Faculty Fellows Turchioe and Pasklinsky Represent Columbia Nursing at Google Higher Ed AI Fellowship Institute
Assistant professor Meghan Reading Turchioe, PhD, and associate professor Natalya Pasklinsky, DNP, represented Columbia University School of Nursing at the Google for Education Higher Education Faculty AI Fellowship Institute, held September 17-18, 2026 at Google’s campus in Sunnyvale, California. Both Turchioe and Pasklinsky were named Higher Ed Faculty AI Fellows in May 2026. Fellows serve as academic pioneers who will shape the future of responsible AI through strategic leadership and institutional transformation.
The two-day institute brought together faculty from higher education institutions to explore how generative AI is changing teaching, learning, and institutional strategy. Programming included sessions on AI and pedagogy, Socratic thinking, “vibe coding” with Gemini and Google AI Studio, design sprints focused on institutional challenges, and opportunities for fellows to share their own projects.
During the event, Turchioe and Pasklinsky presented their fellowship project, “Ambient AI in Clinical Practice: Transforming Nursing Education, Curricula, & Patient Care.” Their presentation argued that as AI increasingly assumes tasks such as clinical documentation, nursing education will need to shift from teaching students primarily to generate documentation toward preparing them to critically audit, verify, and improve AI-generated outputs. They also proposed clinical simulation as an important environment for safely preparing students for AI-augmented care. Their “simulation first” framework would allow students to practice working alongside ambient AI tools while developing skills to evaluate AI-generated documentation.
The institute provided opportunities to learn about the innovative work underway at Google, exchange ideas with colleagues across higher education, and explore how emerging AI tools and approaches can be adapted for nursing education. Turchioe and Pasklinsky plan to build on what they learned through continued work at the intersection of nursing, education, and technology.